Warp Zoned Presents
Video Game Canon- Meet the World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025: Quake, GoldenEye 007, Defender, and Tamagotchi
- The BAFTA Games Awards Polled the Public and Shenmue is “The Most Influential Video Game of All Time”
- 2024 GOTY Scoreboard: Astro Bot, Balatro, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, More
- The Strong Museum of Play Acquires Prototypes and Development Documents from Volition’s 30-Year History
- Minecraft’s Volume Alpha Soundtrack Has Been Added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry
Warp Zoned Presents
- Video Game Research Library
- Inside the ‘Dragon Age’ Debacle That Gutted EA’s BioWare Studio – Bloomberg (2025)
- Fight Club, The Game David Fincher Didn’t Want You To Play – Time Extension (2025)
- It’s beginning to feel like gaming isn’t for everyone – Digital Trends (2025)
- 22 years later, modders are keeping SimCity 4 alive – The Verge (2025)
- The B-movies of Paul W.S. Anderson double as acts of devotion to his muse, Milla Jovovich – The AV Club (2025)
Author: John Scalzo
The Simpsons: Tapped Out rebuilds Springfield on iOS this year
Just don’t call it SpringfieldVille!
Electronic Arts plans to bring another city-building freemium game to the iOS this year with The Simpsons: Tapped Out. Like Zynga’s CityVille, the game encourages iOS users to erect their own virtual Springfield by purchasing buildings with in-game currency (in this case, donuts). As with CityVille, doughnuts can be purchased with real money to speed up the process of rebuilding Springfield.
That’s right, I said “rebuilding.” Homer has caused (another) meltdown at the Nuclear Power Plant, leveling the town. Thankfully, we don’t have a “Day of the Mutants” situation. In fact, no one has been hurt at all. Best of all, they even offer to help Homer fix things. The entire Simpsons family, Duffman, Hans Moleman, and many more of Springfield’s citizens will lend a hand to place a building or complete a quest.
To further capture that authentic Simpsons feel, EA has recruited the show’s writers and voice actors.
The Simpsons: Tapped Out will be released as a free download for the iPad and iPod Touch/iPhone “in the coming weeks.” An Android version is also in development and will be released a few months after that.
[Source: CNet]
WWE WrestleFest added to iOS; coming soon to Android, PSN, XBLA
THQ has added WWE WrestleFest to the iTunes App Store today in Lite (free), iPod Touch/iPhone ($2.99), and iPad ($3.99) versions. If you’re still iOS-less, the game will also be available for Android devices, the PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live Arcade later this year.
If WWE WrestleFest sounds familiar, that’s because it’s based on the classic arcade game WWF WrestleFest. However, instead of a straight conversion, THQ has updated WrestleFest to include current WWE wrestlers such as The Undertaker, John Cena, and Randy Orton. They’ll fight it out with the legends from the original game including “The Macho Man” Randy Savage, Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
If you’d prefer a different set of WWE wrestlers to create the ultimate tag team, THQ plans to add 30 wrestlers to WWE WrestleFest thanks to the magic of downloadable content. CM Punk, Triple H, Sheamus, Shawn Michaels, The Big Boss Man, and many more will be available to download soon.
Ohhhhhhhh yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhh!
Posted in Mobile, News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged WWE WrestleFest
Binary Domain Hands-On Preview: I Robot, You Try It
Even though game developers have tried dozens of times, there’s never really been a great video game adaptation of the Terminator franchise. While Sega’s Binary Domain isn’t an official tie-in of the James Cameron-directed movies, it may as well be. Producer Toshihiro Nagoshi and the rest of his Yakuza Studio have plucked plotpoints and design cues from The Terminator as well as Will Smith’s I, Robot and The Matrix. After mixing it all together, they’ve created something that doesn’t feel very original, but does feel like the Terminator game the world has always wanted. (more…)
Posted in Previews, PS3, Top Story, Xbox 360
Tagged Binary Domain
Sony enlists Call of Duty Vita this Fall
One of the first games Sony announced for the Vita was Call of Duty, and it looks like we’ll see it soonger rather than later. Guy Longworth, Sony’s Senior Vice President of PlayStation Brand Marketing, recently had a chat with Geoff Keighley of Game Trailers. During a discussion of the Vita’s upcoming games (at the 4:00 mark in the video above), Longworth revealed that Call of Duty Vita will be released this Fall:
“In the Autumn, [my kids] are really looking forward to Call of Duty on Vita, and that’s going to be an absolute game changer for the platform.”
Sadly, Longworth wouldn’t get specific about which Call of Duty game will appear on the handheld. So it could be something we’ve seen before like Modern Warfare 3 or it could be an original CoD game built from the ground up for the Vita. Or, it could be a handheld port of this Fall’s Call of Duty 9 (which is expected to be Call of Duty: Black Ops 2).
So that’s what we know. A Call of Duty game will appear on the Vita this Fall. When you stop to think about it, that’s exactly news.
Posted in News, Vita
Tagged Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified
Weekly Warp-Up: Vita Has Landed Edition
No, that’s not a typo. Welcome to the Weekly Warp-Up, your weekly wrap-up of the biggest and the best articles posted at Warp Zoned this week…
It was a big week for handheld gaming this week as Sony launched the PlayStation Vita to immense critical acclaim. Will big sales follow? Only time will tell.
But this week was an even bigger week for full-size console gaming as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ran away with five awards, including Game of the Year, at the 2012 Interactive Achievement Awards. With the IAAs awards, the BAFTAs revealed their 2012 nominees. Batman: Arkham City and L.A. Noire lead the way with eight nominations apiece.
Speaking of England, our own Andrew Rainnie took aim at one of the biggest console games of 2011 with Seven Ways The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Made Me Crazy. That’s not an exaggeration, by the way. Look for his story, One Flew Over the Stalfos’ Nest, in theaters this Summer.
Want more big news about the biggest games from this big week? Hit the jump to read the latest Weekly Warp-Up. (more…)
Posted in News
New Releases: Vita, Syndicate, Asura’s Wrath, More
After a special pre-launch launch last week, Sony is ready to officially launch their next handheld, the Vita, in two different packages: The $249.99 Wi-Fi Edition and the $299.99 3G/Wi-Fi Edition. A handful of additional launch titles will follow it into stores this week including Army Corps of Hell, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus, and Touch My Katamari.
If you prefer to play on a full-size console, there are several other big releases this week including Starbreeze’s first-person shooter reboot of Syndicate (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) and Capcom’s crazy brawler, Asura’s Wrath (PS3, Xbox 360).
Finally, Konami plans to release Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D on that other handheld device (the 3DS).
You can check out the full list of the rest of this week’s new releases after the break. (more…)
Bowser, Robotnik, Dr. Wily, Zangief to cameo in Wreck-It Ralph
The more I hear about Wreck-It Ralph, the more I like it.
Today’s bit of news comes from Disney’s D23 magazine (scanned by a user at DVDizzy.com) and it’s a doozy. Like the Looney Tunes and Disney cameos in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Wreck-It Ralph will be filled with a similar number of classic game characters.
We already knew that Kano (!) and a Pac-Man ghost would be making an appearance in a “Bad Guy Support Group” scene. But now we’ve learned that Bowser, Dr. Robotnik, Dr. Wily, and Zangief will appear in the scene as well!
There is a very tiny picture of the scene at DVDizzy.com, but it’s definitely them. But while you’re there, check out the D23 article, it’s a good read.
Maxis to announce next project at GDC 2012
It’s starting to look like Electronic Arts has every intention of owning this year’s Game Developers Conference. A few days ago, the publisher confirmed that a Medal of Honor 2 announcement will take place during the conference. Now, EA’s Senior Director of PR, Erik Reynolds, has also revealed that Maxis (creators of SimCity, The Sims, and Spore) will unveil their next project during the “EA Game Changers” event.
Scheduled for Tuesday, March 6 at 6:00 PM (Pacific Time), the event’s tagline is “How Can We Change the World Together?,” so whatever Maxis is cooking up, expect it to have a ton of community features like we saw in Spore. The event has also been described as “huge” and Reynolds promised that “special guests” will be in attendance.
If you can’t make it to GDC, fret not, as EA plans to livestream the announcement at EA.com/gamechangers.